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Journalism of Courage
Essential key terms from the last week’s news headlines or between the lines categorised as per the relevance to the UPSC-CSE syllabus along with the MCQs followed.
Why in news?
—Over the past few days, as the problem of air pollution in Delhi-NCR and surrounding areas has made its annual November-December appearance in policy debates and public discussion, the Air Quality Index (AQI) has been mentioned repeatedly.
—AQI is a number, which is a measure of air quality. The higher the AQI, the worse the air. After staying above 450 for a couple of days, the AQI in Delhi on Sunday had come down to around 320.
—The colour-coded AQI index was launched in India in 2014, and it helps the public and the government understand the condition of the air and what subsequent measures are to be taken to combat the situation, based on its severity. There are six categories of AQI, namely ‘Good’ (0-50), ‘Satisfactory’ (50-100), ‘Moderately polluted’ (100-200), ‘Poor’ (200-300), ‘Very Poor’ (300-400), and ‘Severe’ (400-500).
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What is the AQI and how does it calculate pollution?
—Launched by the central government in 2014 as part of the Swachh Bharat campaign, the AQI was to help simplify the common understanding of pollution. An expert group comprising medical professionals, air quality experts, academia, advocacy groups, and others was constituted and a technical study was awarded to IIT Kanpur. IIT Kanpur and the Expert Group recommended an AQI scheme.
—According to the Central Pollution Control Board, part of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, the AQI transforms complex air quality data of various pollutants into a single number (index value), nomenclature and colour. The pollutants measured include PM 10, PM 2.5, Nitrogen Dioxide, Ozone, Carbon, etc.
—There is a calculation that goes behind the index. There are six or eight pollutants in the affected air and each of these pollutants is given a weight based on a formula. That weight depends on the kind of impact it has on human health. The worst of these weights is given as composite air quality, so instead of giving you six different numbers, and six different colours, it throws up one single colour, one single number to denote the overall impact. Monitoring stations across the country assess these levels.
What is the impact of these pollutants?
—Among the more harmful pollutants are those of a smaller size, such as particulate matter (PM) 2.5, which is an atmospheric particulate matter of diameter smaller than 2.5 micrometres (or around 3 per cent of the diameter of a human hair). It causes respiratory problems and reduces visibility. The particles can only be detected with the help of an electron microscope because they are so small.
—Due to their size, the PM 2.5 particles can easily bypass the nose and throat and can easily enter the circulatory system. The particles can also lead to cause chronic diseases such as asthma, heart attack, bronchitis and other respiratory problems.
How does the AQI influence government policy?
—Based on the levels, the governments in areas like Delhi announce measures. As the AQI in NCR dipped to the ‘severe’ category on Thursday, stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan was set in motion. The GRAP has specifically been instituted for emergency measures that kick in to prevent further deterioration of air quality in Delhi-NCR. A central panel directed authorities to prohibit the use of diesel four-wheelers that are not BS-VI compliant, as well as the entry of trucks in Delhi. Petrol cars can continue to ply as usual.
Point to ponder: What is GRAP, Delhi-NCR’s action plan to combat rising air pollution?
1. MCQ:
Q. In the cities of our country, which among the following atmospheric gases are normally considered in calculating the value of Air Quality Index? (2016)
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 2, 3 and 4 only
(c) 1, 4 and 5 only
(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
Why in news?
—Recently, the @NASASun Twitter handle shared an image of the sun seemingly ‘smiling’. Captured by the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory, the image has dark patches on the sun’s surface resembling eyes and a smile. NASA explained that the patches are called coronal holes, which can be seen in ultraviolet light but are typically invisible to our eyes.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What are coronal holes?
—These are regions on the sun’s surface from where fast solar wind gushes out into space. Because they contain little solar material, they have lower temperatures and thus appear much darker than their surroundings. Here, the magnetic field is open to interplanetary space, sending solar material out in a high-speed stream of solar wind. Coronal holes can last between a few weeks to months.
—The holes are not a unique phenomenon, appearing throughout the sun’s approximately 11-year solar cycle. They can last much longer during solar minimum – a period of time when activity on the Sun is substantially diminished, according to NASA.
What do they tell us?
—“These ‘coronal holes’ are important to understanding the space environment around the earth through which our technology and astronauts travel,” NASA had said in 2016 when coronal holes covering “six-eight per cent of the total solar surface” were spotted.
—While it is unclear what causes coronal holes, they correlate to areas on the sun where magnetic fields soar up and away, without looping back down to the surface as they do elsewhere. “Scientists study these fast solar wind streams because they sometimes interact with earth’s magnetic field, creating what’s called a geomagnetic storm, which can expose satellites to radiation and interfere with communications signals,” NASA said at the time.
What happens during a geomagnetic storm?
—According to the US government agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, geomagnetic storms relate to earth’s magnetosphere – the space around a planet that is influenced by its magnetic field. When a high-speed solar stream arrives at the earth, in certain circumstances it can allow energetic solar wind particles to hit the atmosphere over the poles. Such geomagnetic storms cause a major disturbance of the magnetosphere as there is a very efficient exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding earth.
—In cases of a strong solar wind reaching the earth, the resulting geomagnetic storm can cause changes in the ionosphere, part of the earth’s upper atmosphere. Radio and GPS signals travel through this layer of the atmosphere, and so communications can get disrupted.
Point to ponder: How NASA’s images recently have been expanding our imagination of the solar system. Discuss.
2. MCQ:
Which of the following statements is not true with respect to coronal holes?
a) These are regions on the sun’s surface from where fast solar wind gushes out into space.
b) They last only for few seconds during solar minimum.
c) They have lower temperatures and appear much darker than their surroundings.
d) They correlate to areas on the sun where magnetic fields soar up and away, without looping back down to the surface as they do elsewhere.
First amendment to the Constitution
Why in news?
—The Supreme Court last week agreed to examine a plea challenging the expansion of restrictions to the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression that was made by the first amendment to the Constitution. The petitioner, who has challenged the law nearly seven decades after it came into force, argued that the amendment damages the basic structure doctrine.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What was the first amendment to the Constitution?
—Just over a year into the working of the Constitution, then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru introduced a Bill to amend the Constitution. On May 18, 1951, the amendment Bill was referred to a Select Committee which considered the issue for six days. The amendment officially came into effect on June 18, 1951.
—The Constitution (First Amendment) Bill sought to make several consequential changes — from exempting land reforms from scrutiny to providing protections for backward classes in the Constitution. Notably, it also expanded on the scope of the restrictions on the right to free speech.
So what exactly is the constitutional position on free speech?
—Article 19(1)(a) in Part III of the Constitution guarantees the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression. But this freedom is not absolute or unfettered. It is followed by Article 19(2), which lists exceptions or “reasonable restrictions” on that right.
—The text of Article 19(2) in the original Constitution read: “Nothing in sub-clause (a) of clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law in so far as it relates to, or prevent the State from making any law relating to, libel, slander, defamation, contempt of Court or any matter which offends against decency or morality or which undermines the security of, or tends to overthrow, the State.”
—Following the amendment, Article 19(2) was changed to read as follows: “Nothing in sub clause (a) of clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the State from making any law, in so far as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub clause in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence…”
—Thus, the first amendment made two key changes:
First, it introduced the qualification “reasonable” to the restrictions that Article 19(2) imposed. In a 2015 paper, legal scholar Gautam Bhatia placed this term in context, and traced its origins to debates in the Constituent Assembly. The insertion of the term “reasonable”, he argued, keeps the door open for the courts to step in and examine the legitimacy of the restrictions imposed by Parliament.
Second, the amendment introduced into the Constitution the specific terms “public order” and “incitement to an offence”. This set of new, narrower terms in the provision were necessitated by two Supreme Court rulings in 1950, that went against the state’s power to curb free speech.
What were these two verdicts passed by the Supreme Court?
—Both these verdicts involved the press: Brij Bhushan v State of Delhi (March 1950), and Romesh Thappar v State of Madras (May 1950). It was the verdicts in these cases that essentially promoted the first amendment.
ROMESH THAPPAR CASE:
—In 1949, the Madras government (Tamil Nadu had not been created then) had banned ‘Cross Roads’, a left-leaning magazine, for its criticism of the government’s foreign policy. This led to the first significant free speech ruling by the Supreme Court in Romesh Thappar v State of Madras.
—The petitioner had challenged Section 9(1-A) of the Madras Maintenance of Public Order Act, 1949 as unconstitutional. This provision authorised the government to impose restrictions for the wider purpose of securing “public safety” or the “maintenance of public order”.
—The court had to define the terms “public safety” and “public order”, and examine if they fell within the scope of the restrictions allowed in Article 19(2). The government argued that the words “undermining the security of the State” in Article 19(2) could be equated with “public safety” and “maintenance of public order.”
—In its majority opinion in the case, the court disagreed with the government and struck down the provision as unconstitutional. The court found a vast difference in degrees between the two provisions.
—Justice Fazal Ali dissented from the majority view and said that disrupting public order is a means to undermine the security of the State.
BRIJ BHUSHAN CASE:
—In 1950, the Chief Commissioner of Delhi issued a “pre-censorship order” on the RSS mouthpiece ‘Organiser’ which too was critical of the government. Its publisher Brij Bhushan challenged Section 7(1)(c) of the East Punjab Public Safety Act, which allowed pre-publication scrutiny of material “prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order”.
—The issue in this case was essentially the same as the one in Romesh Thappar. And the verdict of the Supreme Court followed the same pattern as in the earlier case.
—Then Chief Justice of India Hiralal Kania, and Justices M Patanjali Sastri, Mehr Chand Mahajan, Sudhi Ranjan Das, B K Mukherjea formed the majority that struck down the law. Justice Fazal Ali again dissented.
(Source: First amendment to Constitution challenged by Apurva Vishwanath)
Point to ponder: Free speech is a basic right that empowers marginalised lives. Comment.
3. MCQ:
The Ninth Schedule was introduced in the Constitution of India during the prime ministership of (2019)
(a) Jawaharlal Nehru
(b) Lal Bahadur Shastri
(c) Indira Gandhi
(d) Morarji Desai
Why in news?
—A team of astronomers has discovered three massive near-Earth asteroids hiding in the glare of the Sun. Of these, one called 2022 AP7 is believed to be the largest planet killer-sized asteroid to be spotted in nearly a decade, and is “potentially hazardous” to Earth.
—According to a study published in The Astronomical Journal, the three asteroids are from a group that is found within the orbits of Earth and Venus. However, they are tough to spot as the brightness of the Sun shields them from telescope observations.
—In an interview with CNN, the lead author of the study, Scott S Sheppard, an astronomer at the Earth and Planets Laboratory of the Carnegie Institute of Science in Washington DC, said an asteroid like 2022 AP7 could have “a devastating impact on life as we know it” and could potentially lead to a “mass extinction event”.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
—Since they were concealed by the Sun’s glare, the astronomers conducted their observation during twilight hours — a brief but favourable 10-minute window every night. They used a Dark Energy Camera at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.
—With the high-tech camera, a programme of the US’ National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) NOIRLAB, they were able to capture large swathes of the sky with immense sensitivity. The camera was originally built to carry out a Dark Energy Survey, conducted by the US Department of Energy and the NSF between 2013 and 2019.
—Apart from dealing with the glare of the Sun, the astronomers also had to tackle another major issue — since the asteroids are close to the horizon, they are blurred and distorted by the Earth’s atmosphere.
—Asteroids that are further away from the Sun are easier to detect.
What do we know about the asteroids?
—Scientists have so far disovered only around 25 asteroids with their orbits within Earth’s orbit.
—Of these, Sheppard’s team has now discovered three. “We have found two large near-Earth asteroids that are about 1 kilometre across, a size that we call planet killers,” Sheppard said, speaking about two of the three discovered asteroids. The two — 2021 LJ4 and 2021 PH27 — have orbits that are safely constrained inside the limits of Earth’s orbit. At less than a kilometre in diameter, 2021 LJ4 is the smallest in size. The asteroid, 2021 PH27, is the closest known asteroid to the Sun. Due to this, its surface gets hot enough to melt lead.
What about the 2022 AP7 asteroid?
—Among the three asteroids, one in particular stands out — the 1.5-kilometre-wide 2022 AP7 asteroid has an orbit that may someday put it on a collision course with our planet.
—At present, researchers have little information about the asteroid, including further details on its possible trajectory and its composition.
Is there an immediate threat to Earth?
—At present, the asteroid only crosses the Earth’s orbit while it is on the opposite side of the Sun i.e., when the Sun comes between the Earth and the asteroid. This will continue for several centuries as it takes the asteroid about five years to orbit the sun, according to a CNN report.
—An asteroid of this size could have a “devastating impact”, Sheppard said, as the Earth’s atmosphere would be inundated with dust and pollutants for years, preventing sunlight from entering.
—Over time, its orbital movement will slowly evolve to be more in sync with Earth’s. As of now, however, Sheppard has said it will “stay well away from Earth”, according to CNN.
(source: Astronomers spot ‘planet killer asteroid’: Is it a threat to Earth? by Rahel Philipose )
Point to ponder: What is the growing strategic importance of outer space?
4. MCQ:
What is die difference between asteroids and comets? (2011)
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a.) 1 and 2 only
(b.) 1 and 3 only
(c.) 3 only
(d.) 1, 2 and 3
Answers to the MCQs: 1 (b), 2 (b), 3 (a), 4 (b)
